SENECA, Mo. — The Seneca Indians continued their dominant start to the football season on Friday night, moving to 5-0 with a 56-0 victory over the Monett Cubs at Seneca High School.
The Indians, ranked No. 2 in Class 3 after earning a 14-point road win over Class 2 No. 1 Lamar one week prior, dominated the Class 4 Cubs (0-5) from start to finish as they jumped out to a 40-0 halftime lead and forced a running clock for the entirety of the second half.
Seneca logged its fourth shutout victory of the season and has outscored its opponents 227-14 through the first five weeks. The Indians are off to a 5-0 start for a second consecutive year.
After opening the game with a defensive three-and-out, the Indians drove 85 yards in eight plays to score the game’s first touchdown on a 2-yard run by running back Jackson Marrs. The drive featured a heavy dose of the rush attack as well as a 33-yard pickup on a pass from quarterback Gavyn Hooper to Morgan Vaughn.
The Cubs drove into Seneca territory later in the first quarter before turning the football over on downs. Seneca took advantage of the takeaway with a 63-yard pass play from Hooper to WR Ethan Altic, which set up a 13-yard touchdown run by Marrs to give the Indians a 14-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.
Just a few minutes later, The Indians struck again when tight end Hagen Ginger hauled in a play-action pass from Hoover for a 36-yard touchdown that gave the home team a 20-0 lead with 9:19 showing the second stanza.
The final five minutes of the second half saw three more Seneca scores, including a 6-yard touchdown scamper by Marrs, an electric 80-yard touchdown pass from Hooper to Altic and a 5-yard touchdown run by Roman Miller.
The Monett offense was limited to just a pair of first downs and was forced to punt five times in the first half.
The Indians received the kickoff to open the second half and proceeded to find the end zone for a seventh consecutive drive after marching 71 yards in under six minutes of game clock. Miller recorded his second score of the night on a 37 yard run through the heart of the Monett defense for a 48-0 lead.
Seneca logged its final score of the night on the second play of the fourth quarter when RB Hunter Hanes capped a 71-yard drive with a 4-yard score plunge.
UP NEXT
Seneca will play host to Reeds Spring next Friday while Monett seeks its first win of the season at home against East Newton.
SCORING SUMMARY
Monett 6 34 8 8 — 56
Seneca 0 0 0 0 — 0
FIRST QUARTER
Sen—Jackson Marrs 2 run (kick fail)
SECOND QUARTER
Sen—Marrs 13 run (Gavyn Hoover run)
Sen—Hagen Ginger 36 pass from Hoover (kick fail)
Sen—Hoover 6 run (Marrs run)
Sen—Ethan Altic 80 pass from Hoover (pass fail)
Sen—Roman Miller 5 run (pass fail)
THIRD QUARTER
Sen—Miller 37 run (Brodie Probert run)
FOURTH QUARTER
Sen—Hunter Hanes 4 run (Probert run)
